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SERMONS

PREACHED UPON

SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

BY ROBERT SOUTH, D.D.

PREBENDARY OF WESTMINSTER, AND CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

A NEW EDITION, IN FOUR VOLUMES,

INCLUDING

THE POSTHUMOUS DISCOURSES.

VOL. I.

VU

PHILADELPHIA:

SORIN & BALL, 311 MARKET STREET.

STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON.

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ADVERTISEMENT.

THE subject of pulpit eloquence is exciting so much of the attention of theological students at the present day, that the publisher of this edition of the sermons of Dr. South believes he is performing an acceptable service, by presenting them in a form and at a price which will now bring them within the reach of all classes.

Dr. South was a divine raised up and endowed with talents and abilities peculiarly adapted to the critical period when he lived. Remarkable for a combination of qualities rarely found together; for originality of conception; for keenness of argument; for boldness of reproof; for severity of sarcasm, and for playfulness of wit; but, above all, for the most earnest and fervent desire for the glory of God in the salvation of his fellow-men; it is scarcely possible to peruse his Discourses without becoming refreshed and nerved with their rich and glowing eloquence. "His judgment," says an eminent writer,* "was penetrating, and his knowledge extensive. He did honour to his age and country, I could almost say to human nature itself. He possessed at once all those extraordinary talents that were divided amongst the greatest authors of antiquity; he had the sound, distinct, comprehensive knowledge of Aristotle, with all the beautiful lights, graces, and embel

* In the Tatler.

lishments of Cicero. One does not know which to admire most in his writings, the strength of reason, force of style, or brightness of imagination. In short, the best way to praise him is to quote him. In all his writings will be found the divine, the orator, the casuist, and the Christian."

The present edition contains all the sermons published during the life of Dr. South, reprinted from the edition of 1737, in six volumes. Also the Posthumous Discourses, published in 1744, under the superintendence of Dr. William King, Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, in five volumes. The three discourses published in 1717, by Edmund Curll, have also been added, of which some. account is given in the advertisement prefixed to them, in vol. iv. page 489.

This edition is accompanied with a very copious and carefully collated Index of all the principal matters contained in the volumes, which cannot fail of being acceptable not only to the general reader, but especially to the student, as furnishing an easy mode of reference to the almost boundless diversity of topics which in the course of his ministry he either illustrated or enforced.

March 1, 1843.

THE

CHIEF HEADS OF THE SERMONS.

VOL. I.

SERMON I.

THE WAYS OF WISDOM ARE WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS.

PROV. III. 17.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness. P. 3.

Some objections against this truth are removed, 4-9, and the duty of repentance represented under a mixture of sweetness, 8, 9.

The excellencies of the pleasure of wisdom are enumerated:

I. As it is the pleasure of the mind, 9, in reference, 1. To speculation, ib., on the account of the greatness, 10, and newness of the objects, ib. 2. To practice, 11.

II. As it never satiates and wearies, 12. The comparison of other pleasures with it; such as that of an epicure, ib., that of ambition, 13, that of friendship and conversation, 14.

III. As it is in nobody's power, but only in his that has it, 15, which property and perpetuity is not to be found in worldly enjoyments, 15, 16.

A consequence is drawn against the absurd austerities of the Romish profession, 16.

A short description of the religious pleasure, 17.

SERMON II.

OF THE CREATION OF MAN IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

GEN. I. 27.

So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him.

P. 21.

The several false opinions of the heathen philosophers concerning the original of the world, 21.

The image of God in man considered, 22.

I. Wherein it does not consist, adequately and formally; not in power and dominion, as the Socinians erroneously assert, ib.

II. Wherein it does consist: 1. In the universal rectitude of all the faculties of the soul, 23, viz. of his understanding, ib., both speculative, 24, 25, and practical, 25. Of his will, 26, concerning the freedom of it, 27. Of his passions, 28. Love, ib. Hatred, 29. Anger, ib. Joy, ib. Sorrow, ib. Hope, 30. Fear, ib. 2. In those characters of majesty that God imprinted upon his body, 31, 32.

VOL. I.

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